Scrapbook Sunday: Getting Started

In a world where just about everything is digital, there is that underlying fear for papercraft. We are edging towards papercrafts that you have to download, creating e-books over a physical copy and sending online cards that pop up in your inbox instead of the post. There’s no denying that it’s a more efficient, but it has to be said that nothing really compares to papercraft.

A concept that couldn’t be truer when it comes to creating a home for our memories.

We get it… no one prints pictures anymore.

Why would you do that when you can just upload them to Facebook with the added bonus of the rest of the world knowing what you are up to? But the reality is that nothing compares to a printed picture. One that you stumble across when you are clearing up the mess and find yourself instantly thrown back to when it was taken. One that you put in a picture to remind you of what you have to be grateful when you walk around your home. Or, just one that you dive into the photo box for because you need a reminder of that time. We don’t believe you when you say looking at pictures on Facebook is the same!

Now, more than ever before scrapbooking should be the top of our priorities.

In a world where it’s easy for pictures to get lost in computer folders, attached to a caption that has the purpose of impressing others and edited until they are nothing like the reality we need to cherish our photographs. To keep them in a safe place where they can be cherished and celebrated.

You’re first thought is probably, who has time to scrapbook these days? It’s a nice idea, but always going to be at the bottom of my to-do list. Uploading online is free, takes no time and I’m a pro at doing it. But none of these are reasons not to give it a try. It’s easy, can be as messy as you like and has tons of positive benefits, like making you more mindful of your experiences (definitely something we could all benefit from these days).

Still daunted about how to give it a try?

We’ve got your back. We are starting a scrapbook Sunday to give you the lowdown on scrapbooking. From our favourite bloggers sharing their tips, to the materials that we have tried and tested we’ve got all the info you need.

First things first, what materials do you need?

A scrapbook:

This is the easy bit. You can get a scrapbook from any stationery retail for a pretty cheap price. We got ours from Hobbycraft who not only have sturdy, plain designs at a good price but have gorgeous designs too.

Photos:

We know what you’re thinking… printing pictures is pricey. So it’s true that compared to posting on social media, printing pictures does come at a price. But you might be surprised to find out that it’s probably not as expensive as you would expect. Snapfish is our personal favourite. They offer free photos for new members and have lots of flash sales offering money off prints too. They arrive quickly and are always good quality.

As well as that, we also like to add some more scrapbook worthy prints into the mix too. Here, we always resort to LA LA Lab. You can select different styles and write captions on the images. We love the style below and add the location so we can create neat sections to our books.

Stickers & cards:

Next up, you are going to need some accessories to turn this from a photobook to a Pinterest worthy scrapbook. Our favourite has to be the Project Life stickers and cards. They have lots of adorable designs and they stick really well to the page. Plus they have themes to fit any scrapbook style.

Tools:

There are lots of ways you can approach actually sticking your images down. Some prefer to use picture corners, although our experience of these was that they didn’t’ hold down pictures securely enough. Then there’s just plain old glue, which does do what it’s supposed to without too much mess. But our personal favourite is good old double-sided sticky tape. It holds images down really well and is entirely mess free! The only downside is that it’s slightly fiddly, but hey this is a mindful task, right?